Andrew II
Andrew II (Andras) was the king of Hungary and Croatia.
History
Andrew was a younger son of Béla III.
Andrew was dispatched to rule over Galicia in 1187. The principality had been caught up in a succession crisis and then captured by Roman; Vladimir II (Володимир), one of the claimants, came to Béla pleading for aid. He instead imprisoned Vladimir and seized the principality for himself. Vladimir escaped in 1190 and, between a rebellion by the local boyars and the aid of Casimir II, Andrew was quickly forced to abandon Galicia.
Following the death of his brother Emeric in 1204, Andrew served as regent for his nephew Ladislaus III. He quickly consolidated power in himself instead. Emeric's widow, Constance, took Ladislaus and fled to Vienna. He died the next year, and Andrew began his lawful reign.
The nobility was greatly empowered through Andrew's reign. First, he distributed a large portion of royal land holdings as hereditary grants to his supporters. Aside from creating many powerful lords, it diminished the tax base that had up to then propped up the authority of frontier ispans. Second, he was compelled to issue the Golden Bull in 1222. This established a constitutional monarchy and formalized a lesser nobility from the 'royal servants' (i.e., freemen sworn directly to the monarch). Namely it...
- exempted them from taxes.
- exempted them from levies for foreign wars.
- authorized them to disobey a king acting unlawfully.
The Golden Bull was the indirect result of the Fifth Crusade. Andrew's father had promised to launch a crusade, and in 1216 the newly elected Honorius III made this a priority. Andrew took on substantial debt to finance the host. He renounced his claim on Zadar to secure a Venetian supply route. And while recapturing Galicia from Roman had been a priority of his, the principality again fell while Andrew was on campaign.
Aside from the crusade, Honorius also secured concessions for the Hungarian clergy. Exemption from taxes and privilegium fori (i.e., the right to be tried in an ecclesiastical court) were granted.